Historical Events - natural or manufactured?

“Which means that specifically historical events could not occur before a specifically historical kind of knowledge existed. It would have no ground or context against which to display its newness.” – Hayden White (in 2008)

What does this statement imply? That only as we slowly awaken newer aspects of our ‘being’, we begin to see certain events for what they are? That our knowledge of the world will reveal itself one event at a time? That an event will unfold to those who look? It seems pre-determined almost. But it makes a lot of sense.

Often in classes, an idea or thought troubles my mind for a couple of days before the entire class broaches the very same idea collectively. Then, we talk about how we’ve been thinking about this ‘idea’ for a while now. And it is a momentous occasion in the history of my day/week/life. One of my older journal entries from last year says:

“It’s like we’ve discovered dark matter at a time when we’ve finally come to terms with the idea that there may be things out there that are beyond our sensory perceptions.”

On a macro level, is this what the author is talking about? If so, I can’t help but agree. There is a mysterious way in which we awaken to things simultaneously and start to see ‘events’ that we’d never seen before.

But then again, to challenge this statement, and the allegory to the 911 attacks and how it was unprecedented in an American context, but perceivable and altogether conceivable in an al-Qaeda context: what does that say about the way in which history is recorded? Today in class, we were discussing media, how it is the present-day historian, and how it controls what we know about the world. The companies that own the media houses heavily influence the kinds of subjects that make it into our mainstream media. Subjects that directly oppose the capitalist system are censored off and/or given no importance. A large media house would never choose to address something like the protest happening outside of the G8 summits every year because the idea that people would object to the authority of these super powers is unspeakable. Let alone by the very companies that power these super nations.

So I question: does an event take place only when we’re ready for it or when the media is ready to talk about it?